1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to product identification and information tags for merchandise suspended from horizontally-extending support hooks, and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to such tags which are easily attached to and removed from the support hooks without being subject to inadvertant removal and which display the product information forwardly of the supported merchandise.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In FIGS. 27 and 28 of my aforesaid U.S. patent application Ser. No. 06/473,650, I disclose a product identification and information tag which is formed from a plastic sheet and which displays the product information forwardly of items suspended from a horizontally-extending hook. The hook extends from an apertured board, or the like, and the tag includes a mounting portion arranged to be temporarily deformed while being attached to and removed from the hook at a location adjacent the board. An intermediate portion of the tag, formed integrally with the support portion, projects forwardly over the support hook and the supported merchandise. A display portion, formed integrally with the intermediate and support portions, bends downwardly from the distal end of the intermediate portion and in front of the hook so as to display the desired product identification and information data.
I have discovered a number of practical problems associated with my above-described product information tag. One such problem involves the inadvertant lateral bending or flexing of the tag along its intermediate portion by customers, resulting in the display portion being positioned along the side of the suspended merchandise and therefore out of view of the customers. This bending or flexing can occur when a merchandise item is removed from an adjacent hook, by a customer accidently brushing against the tag, or in some other fashion. The problem is most severe in the case of tags having relatively long intermediate portions which are inherently more flexible transversely of their lengths.
Another practical problem concerning my prior product information tag relates to the mounting portion which is not ideally suitable for the double loop style hooks which attach directly to an aperture board. More particularly, the mounting portion of my prior tag includes a single thickness of the plastic sheet which is apertured in two locations remote from its edge to receive both legs of the hook. Slots or slits extend from the apertures to the edge of the support portion in order to provide access to the apertures for the hook legs. The slots or slits are laterally spaced by a distance which is less than the lateral spacing between the apertures so that the tag must be resiliently deformed during attachment and removal, thereby assuring that the tag will not be inadvertantly removed from its mounting position. When used with the aforesaid double loop style hook, however, my prior tag tends to slip forwardly on the hook, riding down along the downwardly curved portions of the hook legs and skewing the intermediate and display portions of the tag.